APTMA urges FBR to stop ‘harassing taxpayers’

The federal government should act to stop the Federal Board of Revenue from harassing taxpayers and order immediate withdrawal of all FIRs lodged against genuine and bonafide manufacturers and exporters, said All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Chairman Adil Bashir.

In a statement on Saturday, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan was making concrete efforts to support the export-oriented sectors of Pakistan but some vested interests were creating hindrances in the way of exports.

He said that exports from Pakistan rose substantially over the last few months due to support of the prime minister, however, he feared that the pace of growth in exports might be suppressed by the unfriendly attitude of certain government functionaries.

“FASTER and Weboc systems of FBR have multiple glitches. In fact, the FBR has itself admitted repeatedly that FASTER system has several flaws and deficiencies,” he said. Bashir regretted that instead of correcting the system, field formations of the FBR started lodging FIRs against the taxpayers, which might negatively impact the business environment.

In this regard, he claimed that Large Taxpayers Office (LTO), Lahore recently registered FIRs against leading textile exporters in total disregard of the fact that computer system of FBR had itself erroneously uploaded input tax adjustment of sales tax twice. Bashir alleged that the data was duplicated by FBR’s system due to an error in September 2019 and there was no mis-declaration or omission on part of the taxpayers.

“The offence pertains to September 2019 only which establishes that it was not an individual act but result of a systematic error of the FBR,” he said. “However, the criminal proceedings initiated by LTO Lahore against major reputed companies without prior authentication is contrary to the principles of natural justice.”

He argued that naming and shaming all directors of the mills by nominating them in the FIR without conducting a meaningful inquiry coupled with lack of evidence was unfair. In case an agency of FBR finds a lapse in the compliance of tax laws, it should serve proper show cause notice to the alleged taxpayer and no criminal proceedings should be initiated against such person until the case has been scrutinised thoroughly, he stressed